Some readers may be disappointed to learn that this article is not a potted biography of wicket-keeper come painter Jack Russell, nor is it the story of my debut as an international cricketer for Pakistan (I DARE you to ask me about this without a ready excuse to beat a hasty retreat). No, this is a brief summary of the 2014 season-opener at Southgate CC’s Walker Ground between the aforementioned Trees 1st XI and division-mates Enfield CC, a match which saw me join the ranks of Jonny Bairstow, John Crawley, and Alec Stewart as a make-shift wicketkeeper*.

Firstly, I must commend an excellent effort from the ground staff; the ground is in great nick and the pitch provided for this game made it feel more like June than April, Batsmen and bowlers (and wicketkeepers) alike would be rewarded for endeavour, and we had a ‘proper’ game of cricket on it.

Unfortunately, the same cannot be said of the famous Southgate tree. It appears an over-zealous arborist made a house call during the Winter and administered what is known in the tree-surgery trade as a “Lionel Blair cut”.

Thankfully, we didn’t notice the state of our beloved tree until until later in the afternoon until the skipper commented on it. With the good condition of the ground combined with relatively clear skies it created a jovial atmosphere during the warm-ups. Enfield’s ex skipper Neil Tilley was particularly pleased to discover that several members of the opposition matched his status as a “veteran”, something he expressed in more colourful terms I don’t care to repeat here. Faisal proceeded to win his first toss of the year and unsurprisingly with rain due later, opted to have a bowl.

In the early stages of the Enfield’s innings, however, it looked as though the score to chase may end up being a fairly diminutive one. It has long been my view that the IPL and T20 cricket are ruining the game, and our opposition’s total of 35 for 4 after 7 overs** only served to fortify that view. In truth, the ball was coming on to the bat nicely and our opening pair of Kalagara (uphill) and Mir (downhill) did well to find edges, stumps (Faisal especially as he uprooted the Enfields skippers leg stump and sent it cartwheeling with a brilliant yorker and then trapped their overseas recruit who seemed intent on playing across the line) as well as between good balls being sent to the boundary on what was a quick outfield. But, through disciplined bowling from Mir and Kalagara (who picked up two wickets ) and fielding (and keeping, of course) we took another wicket and found ourselves firmly on top at the end of the first session 80-5 !

After drinks, Enfield’s sixth wicket pair did manage to strike up a tricky little partnership and it was much to their credit that the final total was closer to 150 ( it was nice to prize out their number four on 49 when the skipper brought everyone in and he decided to have a dance down the track giving Ravi his first 1st XI wicket ) than the double-figure affair we may have anticipated, albeit only just. Although we would have enjoyed rattling through all ten wickets with our quicks our slow bowlers were given a go . Johnson & Desai, and back-up seamer Matt Stratten all acquitted themselves positively for the new season, and it was also nice to have a valid target to chase.

There’s not much to say about our innings but a pretty straight forward chase.

That it was relatively uneventful was in no small part thanks to assured, low risk 60-odd from stalwart Alvin Durgacharan. Having posted 50 with fellow opener Adeel Saeed (a breezy 20 or so from him), Alvin batted through with scratchy single figure scores from Southgate debutant Joe Pantling ( “Taunton Joe” ) who went in a t three and wicket-keeper batsman Ollie Bellwood at four.

When Alvin did eventually depart we suffered our only minor moments of tension. Luckily a tenacious Ali Lynch found enough breathing space to find his hitting range with Johnson finding his feet at the other end. After a couple of dress rehearsals, Dundee’s finest put three balls into the tennis courts to wrap up a wholly positive day for Southgate – one which hopefully bodes well for the league meeting between the two sides in May. Later on that evening the skipper received a call from the captain of Gidea and Romford Park to say that they had to forfeit the newly formed royal London National Cup fixture the following day. Faisal wasn’t too impressed with the lateness of the call as Sunday’s cup side was looking strong and it meant trying to get hold of the guys playing but it also meant we proceed to the next round of the cup on May 11th against Waltham which is good news.

As a final footnote, a word of warning to stand-inwicket-keepers the World over. If you have generously volunteered to step into the breach, you will have bruised hands for the next few days. Should you then bump into Karl “the hand-mangler” Jankovicz (apologies for the spelling, Karl) the following Monday, DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES EXTEND YOUR PAW TO GREET THIS MAN. It’s difficult enough to sound macho while ordering a skinny latte in a Barnes café without doing so while cradling your wounded mitt and whimpering.

Here’s to the 2014 cricket season and the green shoots of re-growth on Trees.

Ollie Bellwood

* if you’re the kind of grammar Nazi who cares about this sort of thing, please don’t take it up with me; I couldn’t care less.

**I appreciate this is the only way I’ll ever be associated with these 3 in cricketing terms, and is also rather unkind to the excellent international keeper John Crawley.

*** these scores are estimates based on my hazy memory of the game. Much like everything else in this article, in fact. You really should take the whole thing with a gigantic pinch of salt

Now for the 2”s with Sam Faruqi taking charge of his first game ,

Enfield 2’s 90 ao

Marrett 5 fer

Southgate 2’s 91-5

Southgate win by 6 wickets

Southgate 2’s turned up at Enfield with a mixture of the young and experienced, having won the toss on a track which had been left covered twenty minutes before play was due to start skipper Faruqi had no hesitation in bowling first, opening up with the raw pace of Niroosh and the golden arm of Roy Marett.

Roy bowled a great line jagging the ball in both directions and picking up a well deserved 5 wicket hall. He was well supported by Niroosh, bowling some great away swing and picking up a vital caught behind of their opening batsman (C Barell) who had scored over 600 runs in the previous season.

With the pressure on the Enfield batsmen, James Dangerfield was introduced into the attack and showed why he is a great future prospect for the club. Bowling an immaculate line and varying his speeds, every time the Enfield bowlers tried to score off him, they lost wickets and he picked up a well deserved 3 wickets.

Operating on the other end was Ankit Patel who kept it tight and did not offer any respite bowing 6 overs for 13 and picked up the one wicket of their only batsman to pass 20.

A mention must be made here to the Southgate fielding efforts of Paul Lassman, Amir Khan and a new hidden talent discovered behind the stumps, Jeremy Dangerfield. Jez was outstanding despite having to keep with a pair of colts wicket keeping gloves and pads.

Enfield 2’s were dismissed for 90 off 35 overs.

The opening pair of Paul Lassman (10) and Marcello Decrenzo (25) got us off to a great start of 27.

This could have been a couple of runs better had Marcello not decided to run a “run short” on both of the occasions the pair ran 3 runs!!

With the score on 27 – 1 Max Joseph (16) walked out to the crease with the calmness we are all used seeing and displayed some fine shots and was looking in good form untill he was caught on the boundary with the fielder luckily plucking the ball out of the air on what looked a certain 6.

Some further contributions from Faruqi (14), A khan (4) and the not out pair of Ankit Patel and Niroosh Sugumaran took us home with 6 wickets down and 13 overs to spare.

It was a confident start to the season and good to see every player try their best.

Sam Faruqi

3rd XI v Turnham Green & Polytechnic XI

TGP 260 for 8 dec. (38.4 overs)

Julius Thomson 4-42, Shaffick Babwah 2-44

Southgate 74 all out (26.5 overs)

Ricky Gunn 27 n.o.

Without beleaguering readers with the week-long trauma of attracting eleven individuals to take the field, and with the weather forecast perpetually threatening to scupper all that labour anyway, a third strength side honoured a fixture against one of two Turnham Green & Polytechnic XIs spread (allegedly!) evenly across the 22 players available on the day.

If appearances were anything to go by it was appropriate that they should enjoy the fruits of their journey, fill their boots, and let us all have a bat after tea. They won the (unnecessary) toss and boot filling duly commenced. Three batsmen retired at 50, giving TGP a good opportunity to assess their new talent for the season but the “dads and lads” stuck to the task with heroic enthusiasm and courage. I can only say that ‘keeping wasn’t always easy and a couple of embarrassing stumping chances went begging through misunderstanding the variable pace of the pitch. After only bowling 16 overs all last season, Julius bowled like a dream for 4-42 and fielded as if he had a magnet in his hands taking two sharp catches. 14 year-old Tom Clark took two good catches at mid-off/mid-on and Ishaan Verma (15) in his first adult game pouched an immense skyer at long-on. But perhaps the most poignant touch was Tom Clark’s first club wicket – a catch executed by dad Graham hurtling in for cover with a magnificent diving effort.

Our batting was unfortunately even more disastrous than I had feared it might be and we lost wickets with rapid regularity to the point that Shaffick continuously demoted himself to keep a sufficiently qualified umpire on the field. This backfired when he was later adjudged lbw (“unluckily” is the generally accepted term) but the match result was never in doubt so it was mostly an opportunity for the team to take whatever chance they could with the bat. Again it was only Julius who showed any resistance with 11 (helping take the score from 20-5 to 62) and Ro Silva batted as only he can with two fiercesome lofted boundaries before we finally capitulated. Meanwhile, observing from the other end and having modestly chosen to open the batting, the skipper prodded and flailed an unconvincing path to 27 before achieving the honour of ‘carrying his bat’ for the first time in a long and illustrious career. Enhanced by 18 extras, we achieved a final score of 74.

TGP were an ideal set of fellows – from Jim Yorath, the most sporting of captains and a good natured team, to Paul Furness, their 72-year-old wicketkeeper, guesting from Datchet CC. Considering their distance from home, they maintained an honourable tradition by staying for several beers. Full marks and thanks to Jack and Skippy for contriving a fair pitch given their time resources and the preceding weather conditions, Sue’s succulent chicken pieces – and for the dads and lads for turning out. We have an interesting season ahead of us …!

A very warm welcome to the 2014 Cricket Season! With the action about to start very soon please read on for various news from Southgate Cricket Club. There has been a lot of work behind the scenes this winter and some exciting developments.

Opening up, a message from the Club President Peter Jouning:

For many of us who enjoy our sporting lives to the full throughout the year there is, nonetheless, nothing quite like the start of the cricket season. The smell of newly cut grass heralds the beginning of a five month period when hope springs eternal that this season will be one’s best and most enjoyable yet.
We, at Southgate are lucky in many respects. We play on, arguably, the prettiest and best appointed ground in Middlesex. Unlike some clubs our ground is looked after by others and we are not required to take turns in doing bar duties, keeping the pavilion clean or any of the other menial tasks that most cricket club members are forced to do to ensure their clubs continue to operate successfully.

I believe, with Rob Johnson at the helm as Chairman our Club is blooming and his ongoing stewardship will ensure that we will continue to prosper over the next few years.
Please back him up, along with the other captains and committee people in as many different ways as possible:

Attend the ground force day on Saturday 12 April

Make yourself available for the first friendly games from Saturday April 26

Make yourself available to play in at least one game in Cricket Week

Attend as many Club functions as possible. Full details of Socials, Quizzes and any other events will be circulated soon

Try to attend a Colts evening on the odd occasion. These are on Mondays from 6pm and although we are employing professional coaches this year for the first time to supplement Ricky Gunn and his team, every one extra player arriving on a Monday night to help will be made very welcome.

If there’s a guy at the office who fancies the odd game bring him along. We are always keen to welcome new members of all standards

I am not one of those ‘old codgers’ who believes that everything was much better in the good old days but what has changed more than anything else is the actual number of games that the current generation actually play. As recently as the nineties we ran four teams on Sundays, and many players played upwards of 40 games of cricket.
Bank Holidays gave us the chance to play three games in weekend!!
Those days, for many social and commercial reasons, have gone for ever but if you personally can make a solid contribution to Southgate Cricket Club in one way or another as outlined above then everybody, including yourselves, will benefit.
May the 2014 season be your best and most enjoyable yet, in every conceivable way.
Have a great season and good luck to you all

Peter Jouning

A few words from the Club Captain.

After a very successful eight weeks training camp at the Middlesex Academy now behind us we approach the 2014 season with a great deal of excitement and anticipation.

With only three weeks to go before our 1st friendly, it is vitally important we as cricketers focus and tune in as to what is expected of us from now till the very first game.

The indoor nets this year I believe have been very successful this year, with a great deal of emphasis on structure and plans to combat early season conditions. More importantly the attendance and work ethic has been fantastic from all sections of the club. Our colts section continues to thrive and it’s been a pleasure working with our academy squad this year who net an hour before us. I have let a few of them stay on and train with the senior squad this winter and they are improving all the time. It’s hugely important to bridge the gap between the youngsters and the senior players within the club and I will be ensuring this continues as they are a talented bunch. Keep up the good work guys .

Hopefully this can continue throughout the season with the outdoor nets as it is this continued hard work that will improve our performances on the pitch. The outdoor nets this year will focus on the same type of emphasis as the indoor nets as we shall be looking for a more structured type of net for an hour and a half rather than just come to have a hit/bowl. It’ll start from 6.40pm through to 8.00pm on Tuesday and Thursday (where possible) evenings. Whatever you want/need to do before 6.40 or after 8pm is entirely up to you but the session shall start at 6.40pm.

Moving into the 2014 season the 1st XI squad has been strengthened ,which means more depth and more competition. It’s a great headache for me but importantly it will have a ripple down effect on the teams down the club in the 2’s/3’s/4’s. One of the key things for me last year was to try and rebuild the 1st XI with the young talent Southgate possessed and this involved balancing the side with some experienced heads and at the same time blooding a few of the youngsters. The aim being eventually is to try get a side good enough to compete at the highest level and consolidate our position in the Prem, unlike our last outing where we went straight back down in the same year only picking up three points and enduring a miserable time.

As mentioned in my review of the 2013 season that transition went really well and the younger brigade really took their opportunities and are now fully bonafied 1st team players. It by no stretch means that the team is the finished article as we will always be striving to improve and hence places will up for grabs so I urge all players throughout the club to aspire to play at the highest level they can. With the depth in numbers this year they’ll be no excuses as there will be an expectation to perform, this is what we are trying to achieve ultimately, healthy competition throughout the club.

I am delighted to announce that for the 2014 season we have secured the services of Kusal Mendis, the present u19 Sri Lankan captain as our overseas player (see website for full announcement ). Kusal is a top order batsman who can also keep and is touted as being one of the most talented youngsters in Sri Lanka.

He arrives in the UK in the last week of April so that he can acclimatise and get a few games/training sessions in before the league campaign gets under way. I’m sure everyone at the club shall ensure that his time with us is successful on the field as well as off.

Finally I’d like you all to take a look at the upcoming fixtures (on the website) and start to plan your availability for the early season games as well as for the rest of the season. I believe it’s important to have some form of cricket behind you as the plan is to hit the ground running this year for all the league teams and gain promotion on all fronts

We have set up a players committee meeting which shall meet up once a month before the monthly cricket meeting so that playing members can put forward their thoughts and suggestions as well as having a selection meeting night on Tuesday nights with the respective captains.

It is building up to be a very exciting season ahead for Southgate and I wish all at the club a very successful 2014, let’s all play our part this year however big or small it is.

“Alone we can do so little, together we can do so much “

Faisal Mir

1st XI Club Captain

The Colts!

There are 30 league matches to be played across the three age groups plus cup competitions for the Under 13s and Under 15s.

This year we have an exciting new coaching set-up using professional coaches provided by Revolution Coaching and spearheaded by Carl Greenidge, former first-class county cricketer and son of legendary Test star Gordon Greenidge. With these additional resources we are keen to build up a large colts membership so don’t forget to mention this to friends and relations who have children from the age of 8-15. Please contact Ricky Gunn on ricky@gunn1.com, 020 8360 6478 , or 07766 773397.

*If you have two children taking part, we will deduct £30 from the overall cost

How to pay:
Payment should be made on-line direct to the club’s account for which the details are:
Barclays Bank (Southgate Branch)
A/c no: 60854263
Sort code: 20-29-77
Following your payment please email the club treasurer Ricky Gunn to notify him.

That’s it for this week. Please get along to Cricket Force tomorrow and share the word about all of the good stuff going on at the club, especially the junior coaching!